The Holiday Season

Here it is. The Holiday Season. I bought a new sign for our front door that was just too cute to pass up and it was only $4! "Gobble 'til you Wobble" That pretty much sums up the season. Doesn't it. Someone said the other day. "We start the eating season on Halloween. We eat the candy like we don't get any for the next 364 days and then move right into the Thanksgiving stuffing of our selves like we don't eat during the winter hibernation and then with Christmas we cook and bake and eat like it is our one chance to "load the hump". All I can say is, enjoy!

I love the holidays. I love the sniff of noses as they come in the house when I have been baking. I love the planning of meals and extra goodies to be left out and enjoyed at any hour of the day. Giving gifts that you have really put some thought into. All the family being together 24/7. (yes, even though I escape to my room now and then). But most of all I love the meaning of the season.

We hear it every year "Be Thankful for what you have". There is actually more to it than that. Be thankful for what the Lord has blessed you with. It is an entirely different meaning. If you are thankful for what you have, you are only thankful for what you have worked for or acquired in some way. But when we are thankful for what the Lord has blessed us with, we are grateful for not only the necessities of life but for the abundance of gifts that He did not have to give. God could stop with just the bare minimum, but He doesn't. He gives us far more than any of us deserve. Have you ever thought about what kind of friend would stick around and take the neglect that we give to God? We get our feelings hurt when someone forgets to thank us for a small gift. How about forgetting to thank God for your LIFE!!!

(Sorry I jumped up on a soap box, I'll get down now)

No matter where you are or how many family members you have or how many possessions you have acquired there is always, always more room to improve in our thankfulness to God. I challenge you to make a list of specific things that you are grateful for. That means you appreciate them and find value in them. That you understand the sacrifice it took to get them.

Then find a quiet place with no interruptions and read that list in prayer to God. You will be amazed at how thankful you really are and how loved and blessed you will be.